Improved machine for rounding ttp boot and shoe-soles



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STEVENS, or CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

.Leu'm Pate'm No. 91,281, zaad June 15, 1869.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent: and making part of the lame.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be itknown that I, E. M. STEVENS, of Chelsea, in the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Rounding Up Boot and Shoe-Soles; and I do hereby declane that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specication, is a description of my .invention sulcient to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

This invention relates to improved details of construction in that class of machines which cut, to the shape of a pattern, the edges of soles from pieces of sole-leather of approximate size and form, by a knife mounted on a carriage, which is drawn around the sole, which is clamped to the pattern. In such machines, the edge-forming knife has been pivoted in astock clamped in the moving carriage, the pivot of the knife extending through. the stock, and havingon its ,lower end a lever, to which a spring has been attached,

to keep the knife-edge properly presented to the leather while in the act of cutting. rlhis knife has frequently to be removed to be sharpened, which necessitates theremoval of the lever and spring.

Now, by my invention, I dispense with the lever and spring, and use onlya cross-pin, extending through the knife-stock across the knife-pivot, which is grooved in such a way as not only to allow the pin to hold the knife in the stock, but atthe same time allows the knife tol have a slight but needed oscillatory movement on its pivot, by which the knife automatically adjusts its edge properly with reference to the work which it hasto perform.

In the drawings- Figure l is a section taken through the knife-stock a, showing the knife-pivot b in section, and the crosspin c in elevation;

Figure 2 Shows, in plan, the knife d, its stock a, and the cross-pin c Figure 3 shows said palts in elevation; and

Figure 4 shows, in reversed plan, the old arrangement of a lever, e, on the lower end of the knife-pivot, having a spring, f, xed to saidlever and to the mov- .ing carriage g, in the jawsh of whichv the knife-stock a is clamped, by set-screws, i.

By inspection of fig. 1, it will be seen that the back side of the' groove in the knife-pivot b, instead of being parallel with the cross-piu c, is rounded, and present-s its convex outline to the pin, so that it will be obvious that the knife can turn on its pivot to the extent permitted by the convexity of the back side of the groove; and it will also be seen, that when the ends of the groove are brought to bear against the pin, the turning of the knife will be positively checked.

It will also be seen that by simple withdrawal of the pin c, the knife d can be removed from its stock a, to be sharpened or repaired, without disturbing or removing the carriage g on the bed of its machine.

That portion of the knife marked k, which 'is between the blade (l and the pivot b, is the part which bears against the edge of the pattern, on which the sole is clamped, and is kept in contact with the edge of the pattern by means of springs, acting between the part g of the carriage and its fellow-part, in a manner which is common and well known in the rounding-Lip machines before referred to.

The stock a is drilled across, as seen at u, so as to rest on a pivot fixed in the jaws h, on which pivot the stock can be tipped to give any usual stand or bevel to the sole-edge, the screws t' i serving to x the stock at the angle required.

,The part marked k, located between the knife-blade d and the knife-pivot b, has heretofore been made concave on the face which abuts against the edge of the sole-pattern in moving around it. Saidcoucavity, however, weakens the knife, and, by lessening the bearing-surface/against the sole-pattern, causes it to wear rapidly, while the bearing-surfaces of the knife, being small themselves, wear away quickly, and still further decrease the strength of the knife.

I improve the knife by making said surface k either fiat or convex, in contradistinction to its being made concave, as heretofore, thus lessening the wear of said surface, and of theedge of the sole-pattern, and increasing the strength of the knife.

I claim- 1. For use in the stock a of a rounding-up machine, the knife made with a cylindrical pivot, b, grooved across, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. Also, the combination of the edge-cutting knife with the stock a, by means of the groove in the knifepivot b and the cross-pin c, substantially as and for the purpose described.

, E. M. STEVENS.

Witnesses J. B. CROSBY, FRANCIS GoULD. 

